Progressive selecting circuit



Oct. 19, 1948. A. E. JOEL, JR

PROGRESSIVE SELECTI NG CIRCUIT Filed May 15, 1945 YNVENTOR By A E JOELJR A TTORNE Y Patented Oct. 19, 1948 ITED STATE 'INT OFFICE PROGRESSIVE SELECTING CIRCUIT Application May 15, 1945, Serial No. 593,946

Claims.

This invention relates to progressive selecting arrangements and more particularly to such arrangernents employing chains of relays.

Relay distributing or selecting arrangements are known which employ the repeated sequential operation of a series of pairs of relays in response to the repeated closure of a control contact. Other known arrangements employ a chain of relays having a single relay for each step but require an additional relay or the action of auxiliary apparatus to initiate the sequential operation. Arrangements of the latter type have heretofore always started their sequential operation with one particular relay.

The present invention relates to a distributing arrangement of the latter type and provides means by which the sequential operation of a series of relays may be started by the same contact closure means which controls the subsequent sequential operation.

In addition, means is provided by Which the repeated sequential operation of the relay chain may be initiated with any desired relay of the chain. More specifically, the relays of the chain have secondary windings and means is provided including such winding to operate any desired relay, whereby subsequent closures of the control contact are efiective to continue the sequential operation beginning with the next rela of the chain. This means for operating any desired relay is effective to release any previously operated relay but is ineffective during the closure of the control contact.

Furthermore, means is provided to render a predetermined relay effective when none of said relays is operated.

For a clearer understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the f0110WlI1g detailed description taken in connection with the drawin which illustrates the invention as applied to a chain of five relays.

The chain of relays shown in the drawing,

comprises relays I00, IOI, I02, I03 and I04, each relay having six upper contacts employed in the sequential operation of the chain and four lower contacts for performing any desired progressive or distributive function. As many pairs of lower contacts may be provided as is required for the operations to be performed.

The successive operation of relays I00 to I 04 is brought about by repeated closures of a control contact shown as controlled by relay I50.

Assuming that none of the relays is operated, the first closure of the contact of relay I50 com- .pletes a circuit from ground at the lower contact 2 of relay I55, contact of relay I50, conductor I5I. contact 0 of relays I00, IOI, I02 and I03, contact 5 of-relay I00 to the upper winding of relay I00 and battery.

Relay I00, in operating, closes a locking circuit for itself which may be traced from battery through its upper winding, contact 6 of relay I00, contact I of relay IOI, conductor I51 to ground at the normally closed upper contact of relay I55. Relay I00 opens its own operating circuit at its contact 4 and at contact 3 .closes a circuit from the ground, applied to conductor I BE, over contact 3 of relay I00, contact 4 of relay I04, contact 5 of rela IM to the upper winding of relay IOI and battery. Relay I0] also operates, locking in a circuit from battery through its upper winding, contact 6 of relay IOI, contact I of relay I02 to ground on conduotor I51.

Relay IOI also, at its contacts I and 2, transiers the locking circuit for relay I00 from the steady ground on conductor I5] to the intermite tent ground on conductor I5I. Therefore, when relay I opens its contact, relay I00 releases, l aving relay IOI operated andlocked.

The second closure of the contact of relay I50, closing ground to conductor I5I completes a circuit, extending from conductor I 5| over contact i of relay I00, contact 3 of relay IOI, contact 5 of relay I02 to the upper winding of relay !02 and battery. Relay I02 operates in this circuit, closing a locking circuit for itself from battery through its upper winding, over its contact 0, contact I of relay I03 to ground over conductor I5I.

At its contact 5, relay I02 opens its own operating circuit, at contact 5 opens the operating circuit used for operating relay I 00 and at contact 3 prepares an operating circuit for relay I03. At its contacts I and 2, relay I02 transfers the locking circuit of relay. I0.I from conductor I57 to conductor I5I, so that relay I 0I is held operated as long as the contact of relay I50 is closed, but when relay I50 opens its contact re lay Hill is released. Therefore during the open period of the contact of relay I50, relay I02 is operated alone.

The third closure of the contact of relay I50 operates relay I03 over the normally closed con.- tacts 0 of relays I00 and HM, contact, 3 of relay I102, contact 15 of relay I03 to the upper winding of relay I03 and battery. Relay I03 locks and provides a temporary locking circuit for relay I02 in a manner similar to the operations traced for relay I02, relays J02 and I03 remaining op- 3 erated throughout the third closure of the contact of relay I50. When relay I50 opens its contact, relay I02 releases.

When relay I50 closes its contact for the fourth time, relay I04 operates over its contact 5, contact 3 of relay I03 and contacts 4 of relays Hi2, IOI and I00. Relay I04 locks in a circuit from battery through its upper Winding, contact 6 of relay I04, contact I of relay I to ground onconductor I51. Relay I04 transfers the locking circuit of relay I03 from conductor I51 to conductor II but does not prepare the circuit for relay I00, since that is carried over a back contact, contact 4, of relay I03. When relay I releases, relay I53 also releases.

The next operation of relay I50 closes the previously traced circuit for relay I55, since this circuit is independent of relay I54. Relay 550 looks as before to conductor I51 and transfers the locking circuit for relay I04 to conductor I5I. However, since relay I04 is operated, relay IOI cannot operate at this time and relays IE4 and I00 remain operated until relay I55 opens its contact to release relay I04.

The next operation of relay I50 closes the operating circuit for relay WI and the chain of relays continues to operate sequentially as long as relay I50 continues to intermittently ground conductor I5I.

The distributing contacts on relays I00 to I04 serve to connect incoming conductor I55 successively with the conductors I to I64 and conductor I53 successively with conductors I'll: to I14. It will be noted that conductor I56 is connectedto conductor I60 either with relay I00 operated or with none of the relays I00 to I04 operated so that a connection will exist through these distributing relays even if their operation is interrupted. Conductor I53 is also connected; to conductor I10 with relay I00 operated or with none of the relays I00 to I04 operated, and in addition an auxiliary relay I52 may be operated to suspend distribution of the latter circuits if desired.

Each of the relays I00 to I04 has a secondary,

lower Winding by means of which a particular reresistance I32, contact of key I22, winding of relay II2, normally closed contacts 3 of relays l I3 and I I4 to ground. Relay I I2 operates in this circuit, opening its contacts 3 to prevent the operation of relays H0 or III and connecting ground to its winding at its contact 4 to render it independent of relays H3 and H4. Therefore, if two keys should he accidentally closed at the same time, only one would be effective. At contact 5 relay 2 closes a circuit for relay I55 through resistance I54 to battery. Relay I55 at its lower contact disconnects ground from the contact of relay I50 to suspend the operation of the chain circuit for itself. When key I22 is released, relay II2 releases and at its transfer contacts I and 2, closes a circuit from ground at the front contact of relay I55, conductor I58, over contacts I of relays I0 to I I4 to conductor I51 to complete a temporary locking circuit for relay I02 before it opens the operating circuit previously traced. The release of relay II2 opens the circuit of relay I55 which also releases and at its upper contacts connects ground directly to conductor I51 to close the usual locking circuit for the chain relays, before removing ground from conductor I58, and opening the temporary locking circuit. Relay I55 again connects ground to the contact of relay I50 to permit the sequential operation of the chain relays to start. Since relay I02 is operated, the first subsequent closure of the contact of relay I50 completes an operating circuit for relay I03 and the operation of the relay chain continues from that point. It may be noted that relay I50 in connecting ground to conductor I5I also closes a shunt around the winding of relay I55 to prevent interference with any distributed function which may be taking place at the time.

It is to be understood, of course, that the inven- 7 tion is not limited to the use of a five relay chain, but that by including as many relays wired like relay I02 as desired, the chain might be increased to any desired length. For a long chain of relays it might be preferable to provide resetting keys and relays for only a limited number of the chain relays.

A chain of relays of the present type may serve a large variety of purposes. It may be'used to distribute the preference of choice over a group of circuits in order to insure uniform use thereof in common control circuits such as shown in Patent 2,235,803, granted March 18, 1941 to W. W. Carpenter; it may be used as the selecting means in routine test circuits such as shown in Patent 2,225,688, granted December 24, 1940 to J. W. Dehn; it may be used under the control of an accurately timed contact as a means to measure and indicate time intervals as shown in Patent 2,362,425, granted November 7, 1944 to F. M. Wiese. The present arrangement would be particularly valuable in the two latter uses since it would permit starting a routine test with any desired circuit or to reset the time with a minimum of delay.

What is claimed is:

1. A selecting circuit comprising a chain of relays, an intermittently closed contact, means responsive to the closure of said contact with one of said relays operated to operate the next relay of said chain, contacts operated by said next relay for closing a locking circuit for itself independent of said contact and for closing a locking circuit for said one relay under the control of said intermittently closed contact, means normally effective to operate a particular one of said relays in response to the first closure of said intermittently closed contact, auxiliary means for causing the first closure of said intermittently closed contact to operate any desired one of said relays, comprising a secondary winding on each of said chain relays, a key individual to each of said relays and means under the control of each of said keys to energize the secondary winding of the associated chain relay, and means also under the control of each of said keys for unlocking any previously locked relay of said chain.

2. A selecting circuit comprising a chain of relays, a common locking ground for said relays, an intermittently closed contact, means responsive to the closure of said contact after one of said relays has been operated and locked to operate the next relay of said chain, contacts operated by said next relay for closing a locking circuit for itself to said common locking ground independent of said intermittent contact and for placing said one relay under the control of said intermittent contact, means normally effective to operate a particular one of said relays in response to the first of a series of closures of said intermittent contact, auxiliary means for causing the first of a subsequent series of closures of said intermittent contact to operate any desired one of said relays comprising a secondary winding on each of said chain relays, a key individual to each of said relays and means responsive to the momentary operation of one of said keys to energize the secondary winding of the associated chain relay, and means also under the control of said key for closing an individual locking circuit for said associated chain relay, for disconnecting said common locking ground from any previously locked relay of said chain and for rendering said intermittently closed contact inefiective to operate the relay next to said associated chain relay until said key is released.

3. A selecting circuit comprising a chain of relays, a common locking ground for said relays, an intermittently closed contact, means responsive to the closure of said contact after one of said relays has been operated and locked to operate the next relay of said chain, contacts operated by said next relay for closing a locking circuit for itself to said common locking ground independent of said intermittent contact and for placing said one relay under the control of said intermittent contact, means normally effective to operate a particular one of said relays in response to the first of a series of closures of said intermittent contact, auxiliary means for causing the first of a subsequent series of closures of said intermittent contact to operate any desired one of said relays comprising a secondary winding on each of said chain relays, a key individual to each of said relays and means responsive to the momentary operation of one of said keys to energize the secondary winding of the associated chain relay, and means under the control of said intermittently closed contact for rendering said keycontrolled means ineffective to energize the associated chain relay until the end of a previous closure of said intermittently closed contact.

4. A selecting circuit comprising a chain of relays. a, common locking ground for said relays, an intermittently closed contact, means responsive to the closure of said contact after one of said relays has been operated and locked to operate the next relay of said chain, contacts operated by said next relay for closing a locking circuit foritself to said common locking ground independent of said intermittent contact and for placing said one relay under the control of said intermittent contact, means normally effective to operate a particular one of said relays in response to the first of a series of closures of said intermittent contact, auxiliary means for causing the first of a subsequent series of closures of said intermittent contact to operate any desired one of said relays comprising a secondary winding on each of said chain relays, a key individual to each of said relays and means responsive to the momentary operation of one of said keys to energize the secondary winding of the associated chain relay, means also under the control of each of said keys for closing an individual locking circuit for said associated chain relay, for disconnecting said common locking ground from any previously locked relay of said chain and for rendering said intermittently closed contact ineffectiveto operate the relay next to said associated chain relay until said key is released and means under the control of said intermittently closed contact for rendering said key-controlled means ineffective to energize the associated chain relay until the end of a previous closure of said contact.

5. A selecting circuit comprising a chain of relays, common locking ground for said relays, an intermittently closed contact, means responsive to the closure of said contact when one of said relays ha been operated and locked to operate the next relay of said chain, contacts operated by said next relay for closing a locking circuit for itself to said common ground independent of said intermittent contact and for placing said one relay under the control of said intermittent contact, means normally effective to operate a particular one of said relays in response to the first of a series of closures of said intermittent contact, auxiliary means for causing the first of a subsequent series of closures of said contact to operate any desired one of said relays comprising a secondary winding on each of said chain relays, means individual to each of said relays to energize the secondary winding of said associated chain relay in response to a momentary operation of said energizing means, means also under the control of each said energizing means for closing an individual locking circuit for said associated chain relay, for disconnecting said common ground from any previously locked relay of said chain and for rendering said intermittently closed contact inefiective to operate the next relay prior to the termination of the momentary operation of said energizing means and means under the control of said intermittently closed contact for preventing the energization of any secondary winding until the end 'of a previous closure of said contact.

AMOS E. JOEL, JR.

REFERENCES CITED lhe following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

